Memorial Room: Collections

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) Van Leeuwenhoek, revered as the Father of Microbiology, was a Dutch microbiologist best known for developing the microscope. Born to a basket maker and raised without much scientific education, van Leeuwenhoek apprenticed for a linen draper in Amsterdam and eventually opened his own draper’s shop. His interest in developing microscopic lens… Read more: 300 Year Anniversary – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)

A History Of House Calls and Medicine Making In the past, if you were unfortunate enough to be sick, you probably would not have visited the doctor’s office. Instead, the doctor would have come to you! Until the mid-20th century, house calls were a common medical practice. Doctors would visit their ill patients in their… Read more: History of Medicine Exhibits – Summer 2022

The exhibition featured additional materials from UBC Library’s collections to explore related topics, such as Shakespearean theatre in British Columbia and Shakespeare in children’s literature. Collection highlights included: the second edition folio of Shakespeare’s complete works (1807), first editions of Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590), John Donne’s Poems (1633), and George Herbert’s The Temple (1633),… Read more: And there’s the humor of it: Shakespeare and the four humors

While there is nothing resembling a museum in the Memorial Room area, there is a modest collection of artifacts. Notable among these are infant feeders, largely the gift of Miss Alice Wright of Vancouver. There are some sets of older surgical instruments and a few nineteenth century microscopes and pharmaceutical kits.

The first major acquisition of historical medical material occurred in 1963 when a grant from the Mr. and Mrs. P.A. Woodward Foundation enabled the University to purchase a well-chosen collection of rare medical books from Dr. C.D. Leake.

A collection of taped and transcribed interviews (1984-1986) with individuals involved in the early history of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Medical School.

Original manuscripts to and from Florence Nightingale, Charles Darwin and more.